Winds of Love
by The Layman
Summary: Fuuka has a chance encounter with a boy of the street, and against all odds actually likes the t-shirt she's wearing! Fuuka X OC. (Sorry about the cheesy title, but it kinds fits with Fuuka, no?) Threeshot.
1. I like your shirt

_Hey there, Layman here, bringing you something a little different! _

_Yotsuba&! is probably my favorite manga of all time. It's just just so offbeat and oddball that it fits my tastes perfectly! It always cracks me up without fail every time I read it._

_So naturally it takes me years after I discover it to get down to writing Fanfiction about it. _

_For this outing, we'll be focusing on the character of Fuuka Ayase, the middle of the three Ayase sisters for those who don't know. (I kinda have a soft spot for her cause she's usually the butt of a few jokes.) _

_So enough wasting time, on with the fun!_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"Crap, I'm so late!" Fuuka muttered to herself as she furiously peddled her bike back to her home. She'd been hanging out with some of her friends from school and had lost track of time; it was now early evening and the sun had sunk quite a bit below the horizon. "If only Suuko hadn't brought those cards," she continued, "but Sachiko insisted we needed four players and Hana-chan did her "Neko-chan Onegai" thing (they know I can't say no to that), what was I supposed to do?!"

She turned the corner to her street, still engrossed in conversation with herself, "Though it's not like anyone really cares if I'm a little late getting home, they know I'm a responsible young woman, _unlike Asagi_... I wonder if Dad'll be home tonight? He's been working late nights recently, so if he's there-"

Which is why she didn't notice the person directly in her path until the last second.

"AACK!" she cried, swerving just in time to miss a boy around her age. To his credit he jumped aside just before she ran him over, even managing to keep his balance with the large gym bag he was carrying. Fuuka on the other hand-

CLANG!

-ran into a telephone poll. (Though to her credit she was thrown off her bike and only had a few scratches and a sore bottom to worry about.)

"Owwwwww," she whined, rubbing her sore posterior, "I'll probably feel that in the morning..."

"Hey, you OK?" She turned to see the boy she'd almost ran over fretting over her, "That looked like a nasty spill you took; you didn't break anything did you? It doesn't look like you broke anything, and you don't have any deep cuts, but internal bleeding and a concussion are always a possibility-"

"I'm fine, I'm totally fine!" she reassured him, picking herself up to prove her point, "See? No worse for wear!"

"Are you sure?" the boy persisted, "How many fingers many I holding up?"

He held up his pointer finger and was slowly waving it from side to side.

"Just one. Um...am I being scolded?" Apparently having answered his question sufficiently, the boy sighed in relief.

"Thank God, you really are fine; I don't think I could live with myself if you got hurt on my account."

"Good to know," Fuuka said, sweatdropping a little at the exaggeration. _He takes things so seriously... _"I'm Fuuka Ayase by the way."

"Nice to meet you," he said politely, having managed to compose himself, "I guess that explains your shirt then."

"Hm?" She looked down at her t-shirt, which had the character _Fuu_ (Wind) on the front. "Oh, this?" He nodded, and she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "I know, so corny, right? Everyone says I have a bad fashion sense..."

"No, I think it's cool."

"Oh...really?" This threw Fuuka for a loop, since normally her family wasn't any better (which included Koiwa-san and Yostsuba across the street) and her friends just wondered why she never wore anything but t-shirts.

"Yeah," he said as though it were obvious, then did a double take and saw the confusion in Fuuka's face, "Why, you don't think so?"

"It's not that," Fuuka said as she continued to process this new development, "it's just that no one really complimented my t-shirts before; this is kind of a new experience for me..."

"Really?" Now it was the boy's turn to be thrown for a loop, "Not even your family?"

Memories of Asagi bluntly saying her shirts were dumb (sometimes accompanied with a chop to the head), Yotsuba blindly and exuberantly agreeing with her, and Ena gently driving the point home ran through her head.

Needless to say, there was quite an awkward silence between the two teens that seemed to last for an eternity, Fuuka looking gloomy and the boy looking sheepish.

Somewhere in the distance, a bird cried out.

"I...should probably get going," the boy said, reluctantly turning to leave. He looked back at her once more, "It was nice meeting you Fuuka-san, even if it was my fault you crashed."

"Yeah...," Fuuka said absently, unpleasant memories still running through her mind. However, the fact that the boy was leaving somehow managed to break through the fog and register with the middle Ayase daughter. "Wait, you didn't tell me your name!"she called as he walked up the road.

"_It's Hibiki Fujisaki,"_ he called back, waving, _"See you around sometime, Fuuka-san!"_

Fuuka picked up her bike as she watched Hibiki disappear around the corner (the worst that happened to it was a few small dents and some chipped paint).

"Huh, he also has the Wind in his name...," she said to herself, a tiny smile creeping its way onto her face, "And he liked my t-shirt too, bonus!"

She hopped back on her bike and peddled down the street, humming satisfactorily.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_So, how it is so far? Of course Hibiki doesn't have that much character yet, you only just met him! But rest assured he will not somehow turn into a Mary-Sue! (On that note, it's been a while since I tried my hand at a semi-serious romance fic, hope I don't botch it!) Also, did I get Fuuka's character right? I kinda hope so, since she's going to be the main focus of this story. _

_Anyways, here's a quick primer for this story. The chapters are most likely going to be short like this, since most of the stories in the manga are fairly self contained and don't last past a single chapter. Also, this is mostly going to focus on Fuuka and Hibiki, though the other characters in the manga will be featured as prominently as the story requires. (In fact, we might see the rest of the Ayase family next chapter!) And lastly, I should be updating this on a fairly regular schedule if I can get enough written beforehand. I'm hoping two weeks between chapters is enough leeway to work with. _

_So until next chapter, Hasta la Vista! _


	2. He's not my boyfriend!

_Well, here's chapter 2, in which the rest of the Ayase house gets involved. _

_On a slight side note, I was looking through the other Yotsuba&! stories on this site I was sorely disappointed to find that there were only about 55 stories total. FIFTY. FIVE. STORIES. Most of them were either pairing stories or fluffy one shots. That's all well and good, (and at this point I should just be glad there are any stories at all), but it'd be nice to see more diversity and longer stories. Then again, Yotsuba&! is essentially a bunch of one shots, so..._

_Whatever, I've rambled enough. Let's get on to the story._

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"I'm home!" Fuuka called as she slipped off her shoes, placing them by the door and grabbing a pair of slippers to wear instead.

"Oh there you are," her mother said, poking her head out of the kitchen, "I was beginning to wonder if you weren't staying the night at your friends' place."

"Nope!" she chirped, sauntering into the kitchen, "I just lost track of time, is all." She headed over to the fridge in search of food. "I didn't miss anything, did I?"

_Aside from dinner?_ he mother wondered silently. "Not much; Yotsuba-chan stopped by while you were gone and played with Ena for a bit, then mentioned something about 'protecting the planet' and marched back home."

"Huh," Fuuka said absently, taking a yogurt. She hummed a little tune as she fished a spoon from the utensil drawer.

"...you're awfully cheerful for someone getting home late," her mother remarked. "Normally you'd be a bit more flustered."

"And she'd be sulking afterward," Asagi added.

"Oh hi Nee-chan," Fuuka said, just noticing her older sister sitting at the table (right across from her too) before going back to her yogurt.

"OK, now I'm concerned," the young blond woman said, regarding her younger sister curiously, "you're not trying to deny what I said; who are you and what have you done with Fuuka?"

"Someone stole Fuuka?!" Ena exclaimed, having just come down the stairs. However, after seeing the second oldest sister safe and sound, she calmed down.

"Someone apparently kidnapped the real Fuuka and sent this doppelganger home in her place," Asagi explain to Ena, who looked even more confused.

"Nothing happened," Fuuka assured her sisters, finally snapping out of her happy daze, "I mean I almost ran someone over on my bike and nearly got a concussion in the process, but I don't think any of that-"

"YOU DID _WHAT?!_" her family screamed, shocked at this sudden revelation.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"And then he said 'see you around' and walked off." Fukka had finally finished the story of why she was late. She paused, smiling as she remembered what Hibiki had said about her shirt.

"I'm glad neither of you got hurt because of that," her mother said, "but next time pay more attention to where you're going; next time it might be a car or a bus instead of a telephone poll."

"I'm glad Nee-chan finally found someone to replace her old crush," Ena remarked to no one in particular, causing Fuuka to gag slightly on her yogurt.

"He's _not_ my new boyfriend!" Fuuka exclaimed reproachfully. "He's just a nice guy who happened to think my t-shirts were cute; I don't even know if I'll ever see him again!"

"Still sounds like the beginnings of a relationship to me," Asagi teased, enjoying the fuming that resulted. "It's too bad Dad's no longer with us, he would've been happy to know his daughter was finally getting her life together." (_"Unlike certain others I could mention," _Mrs. Ayase said under her breath.)

"Oh, I think I can be persuaded to stick around for that," the voice of Mr. Ayase said as he came into the kitchen.

"Aack! Zombie!" Asagi cried, comically overreacting.

"Good evening Dear," Mrs. Ayase greeted her husband, "did you just get back?"

"Mmhmm," he nodded, taking a seat next to Asagi, "I only caught the end of your conversation, but it sounds like Fuuka has a boyfriend now?"

"N-no!" the high schooler said shakily, "I just met someone on my way home who liked my shirt, is all."

"I see."

"I think it's kinda romantic," Ena interjected, "almost like something out of a fairy tale."

"Or out of a movie," Asagi added.

"Or nothing, cause he's not my boyfriend!" Fuuka adamantly restated, "Seriously, what is it with you people suddenly taking an interest in my love life?"

"Or lack thereof," Asaid smirked knowingly.

_Now_ Fuuka was gloomy, dark clouds and everything.

"Asgai," her father remanded gently, "be nice."

"What, it's true!" she protested. "Though to be honest, I thought she'd end end up falling for Koiwa-san, considering how often the two of them-"

At this point Fuuka sprang across the table, clamping her hands over her sister's mouth. Asagi, for her part, was too stunned to for any kind of proper response.

"...I'm going to my room now," Fuuka sulked, shuffling off to her sanctum sanctorum in hopes that it wouldn't question love life too.

"Asagi, you really need to lighten up on your sister," Mr. Ayase admonished, to which Asagi replied-

"Back from the dead?!" in her usual form.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_Chapter two is done, so what will happen next? Nothing really too major, it's still the first day after all. Chapter three will most likely be low key, just with Fuuka and her thoughts. Once that's over with things will get a bit more active. Hey hey, maybe we'll get to see some more of the Yotsuba&! cast as well. Hasta la Vista!_


	3. Let's be friends

_And here's chapter 3, folks! Like I said last time, it'll be rather low key, since it's just be Fuuka and her thoughts this time around. But who knows, I might shove in another character if my Muse leads me so, thought they might not be that prominent. _

_But enough chit chat, let's see what kind of emotions are going through Fuuka right now. _

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Fuuka lay sprawled on her bed, groaning in misery at the antics of her family. Why did they always have to tease her about her totally real love life? She young, attractive, full of energy; she could totally have a boyfriend if she wanted, she just wasn't interested in having one just now.

Of course it didn't really help when Yotsuba proclaimed "Fuuka has Heartbreak!" in her short lived newspaper, and usually referred to her as the "not so pretty one", and that she was usually discovered in unusual situations with Koiwa-san, and that Jumbo-san usually belittled her in favor of Asagi...

"I hate my life..." she mumbled into her pillow.

To take her mind off of her despair she decided to read some of the teen magazines she collected. She didn't like them because she was overly fashion conscious like some of her friends were (she mostly wore T-shirts after all), but just to be in the know so she could keep up with her friends when they talked about clothes or celebrities or whatever. It was also a good way for her to just relax and let her mind sort itself out, which she needed at the moment. She grabbed a volume a couple months old and opened to a random page. The article was an interview with some Pop Idol who'd just announced she was leaving music and going into movies. It was an interesting enough story, but not really relevant to Fuuka's interests.

As she read the page her mind drifted towards the boy she met earlier, Hibiki. He was certainly nice, no doubt about that, even if he seemed a little easily frightful. He was good looking in a boyish kind of way, and he seemed athletic (judging by the gym bag he was carrying). But most importantly he liked her shirt, unlike her family usually did. Or her friends, really. Or most people she knew...

"I wondered what short he plays?" she wondered aloud, hoping to curtail that line of thought. Probably something like Soccer or Baseball, like the guys at her school did; boys usually chose those sport to play, right? Again, going by the length of the gym bag, it probably was one of those two.

Come to think of it, he did seem like someone who'd be a good friend to have; he was obviously kind, caring, a bit thoughtful, and he appreciated good clothing. Sure, why shouldn't she get to know this guy better? Her family's meddling in her love life be damned! The next time she met Hibiki, she'd strike up a friendship with him or die trying!

Would she ever see him again?

"_Fuuka!" _she heard outside her door, _"Do you want any leftovers? You missed dinner before." _

_Good old Mom,_ Fuuka thought went to open the door for her mother. _Come to think of it, I am still a bit hungry..._

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_A bit shorter than the last two, but it's still early in the story. I'll try to keep the chapters at least as long as the first two, but no promises; the story controls the writer as much as the writer controls the story. It's a weird symbiosis to be sure. Hasta la Vista! _


End file.
